


For Want Of A Nail

by SuperSam



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Bad Ending, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Papyrus Remembers Resets, Papyrus-centric, Sad Ending, Sans Remembers Resets, Undertale Genocide Route, bad brother au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 22:38:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14757623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperSam/pseuds/SuperSam
Summary: For want of a nail the shoe was lost;For want of a shoe the horse was lost;For want of a horse the battle was lost;For the failure of battle the kingdom was lost—All for the want of a horseshoe nail.





	1. The Shoe.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm not sure how many chapters this'll be, nor do i have any kind of plan, im just kinda guessing out details as i roll along.

Something was different about his dear brother these past few timelines! Now, he was aware of the anomaly that was distorting time and space, and so was his brother. But it had never seemed to affect him like this!  
It was probably his fault, in part. It was naive of him to assume Sans would be unaffected by all this.  
However, there was nothing to be done about his past actions, and everything to be done about the present!  
Sans wasn't acting like himself anymore. He wasn't telling his terrible jokes, or pulling cheap pranks, or doing any of the Sans-like things he usually did.  
It worried him. 

With each new RESET, Sans seemed to get more and more detached. He was losing the compassion that he's once had, and had been getting downright _mean._  
He would just have to work harder! He always had a talent for dedication, he just needed to be super extra dedicated now!  
The Great Papyrus would never give up on someone he cared about, and he was ashamed that he had allowed this to go on for as long as it had!  
Even if Sans did not seem to care about him in return.

"GOOD MORNING, BROTHER! I HAVE PREPARED A DELICIOUS BREAKFAST FOR YOU, AND IF YOU DO NOT COME TO GET IT SOON, IT WILL GET COLD!"  
There was the quiet sound of Sans shuffling about inside his room before he spoke.  
"i'm not in the mood for your lousy cooking bro."  
Papyrus flinched at that.  
It seemed like Sans was in one of his moods today.  
He sighed dramatically before speaking again.  
"WELL, I SUPPOSE I CAN ALLOW YOU TO GO TO THAT GREASE HOLE YOU LOVE SO MUCH. AT LEAST EAT _SOMETHING_ TODAY."  
"piss off, papyrus."  
He sighed again, quieter, and genuinely this time. He decided to leave before this spiraled into another argument.


	2. The Horse.

Sans was already downstairs somehow when Papyrus got there, something he'd grown used to over time.  
He was unprepared, however, to watch him take the breakfast he'd prepared so carefully, and look directly at him while he dumped it in the trash.  
He spoke before he could stop himself.  
"SANS, THAT'S SUCH A WASTE OF FOOD!"  
Sans didn't even flinch.  
"the real waste of food is you insisting on cooking when you know how much your food sucks. nobody's gonna eat that shit. i don't know why undyne even still tries with you, she should know better than anyone that you're a lost cause."  
Papyrus must have had one doozy of an expression on his face, because for an instant, Sans looked almost apologetic.  
The moment was over faster than he could process it though, and Sans just looked mad again.  
"don't give me that look. i'm just tryin' to keep you and everyone else from wasting time on meaningless bullshit. you should appreciate it a little."  
Papyrus stayed silent, and Sans just sighed as he walked out the front door, off to do whatever he did before sentry duty now.

An hour or so passed, and it was time for him to head to the forest near the Ruins.  
After all, the human would be showing up now, and he couldn't just break script because of one argument!  
As he approached the spot with the lamp, however, he immediately noticed something was off.  
The human wasn't hiding behind the lamp.  
And they were covered in dust.  
He fumbled out a couple sentences, falling back on the fact that Sans didn't think he would know what a human looked like yet.  
He was making a complete idiot out of himself, but that was no matter! He refused to let this affect him!  
He couldn't help but feel a sense of dread, however.

This was going to be a terrible timeline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can tell you right now that this isn't gonna have a happy ending.


	3. The Battle.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's baby's first genocide run up in here, and there's no hope for anyone

Watching the human traverse the Snowdin forest, passing right by his puzzles without even solving them, and seeming to get covered in an increasingly concerning amount of dust as time went on was more than a little surreal.  
Sans approached him after his word search puzzle and only said one thing.  
"stay away from that human. you're not strong enough to stop them. you'd just get your ass kicked."  
He walked off immediately afterwards, not giving Papyrus enough time to process the statement and respond properly.  
That had almost been... nice? His brother was worried about him!  
However, that concern was horribly misguided, and Papyrus had no choice but to prove him wrong!  
He was useful. He would prove it.  
He would convince this human to stop, and then they could start over and fix this!  
They could be happy, and Papyrus would be the hero, and even if Sans would never acknowledge it out loud, he would still be really proud!

He was trying to stay positive. He was! It was just... really hard, with how carelessly the human seemed to be acting.  
Sans was getting more and more agitated.  
By the time the human passed the Gauntlet of Deadly Terror, Sans had practically worked himself into a frenzy.  
"i'm telling you, papyrus, whatever you're thinking about doing or saying to that human, it's not gonna work. listen to me for once in your life and stay away from them"  
"I'M NOT A CHILD, SANS. IN FACT, I'M _YOUR_ OLDER BROTHER! SO YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY SO MUCH. I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF."  
Sans looked downright _furious_ at that.  
"you can't protect yourself worth shit! all you're gonna do is make a half assed attempt at fighting the human and then get yourself killed!"  
He went to respond, but Sans cut him off.  
"you're no good at fighting papyrus, just like you're no good at anything else! so try actually doing something right for once and listen to me!"  
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air, and when it became clear that he would neither relent nor respond, Sans huffed angrily.  
"whatever. just don't say i didn't warn you."

The human had reached Snowdin Town.  
The rest of the townsfolk had fled, but Papyrus wouldn't abandon the town he loved.  
Everyone who had tried to FIGHT the human had fallen.

Perhaps, if FIGHTing wasn't the answer, MERCY could be?


	4. The Kingdom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapters a little on the short side, even for this fic, but oh well lmao.

Snowdin was desolate.   
The human was wandering around, a sort of detached curiosity on their face as they interacted with everything.  
The once friendly, welcoming town was now empty of everything but dust and the small child who practically worshipped Undyne.  
Even the Ice Wolf had fled from his job throwing ice, and for some reason, that hit him the hardest.  
By all means, there should have been nothing to be done here.  
Sans had already evacuated, scathingly telling him that he should too, if he knew what was good for him.   
He stayed.

His phone rang.   
The caller ID showed sans.  
He hit ignore.  
Sans left a voicemail.  
"so you think you can just ignore a call from your only family just because there's a human raising hell? i have half a mind to come back to snowdin and smack the shit out of you. it's whatever though. i'll just let the human do it for me. it'll serve you right."  
Papyrus didn't feel anything.

The human seemed to be making their way towards the edge of the town.   
That was his cue to prepare for battle.  
Whether he lived or died, he had a feeling it wasn't going to last long either way.  
At least no one would be too disappointed if he died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to make it absolutely clear that sans's behavior here is in fact abuse, and is meant to be read as such.  
> i've been keeping it fairly tame because writing abusive situations is a bit uncomfortable for me, but i just want to be 100% clear that sans's behavior is not meant to be seen as okay or justifiable.


	5. All For The Want Of A Horseshoe Nail.

He was standing outside Snowdin.  
He was probably going to die.  
He was trying to convince himself he was okay with that.  
But... the human was approaching, and he was scared.

"HALT, HUMAN!"  
The human did not halt, which was frankly a little bit rude.  
"HEY, QUIT MOVING WHILE I'M TALKING TO YOU!"  
The human stopped to let him talk, which could only be a good sign! They were listening to him!  
"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY."  
The human looked bored.  
"FIRST: YOU'RE A FREAKING WEIRDO!"  
That seemed to offend them, oddly enough, and it was the first time he'd seen them make a face this whole timeline!  
"NOT ONLY DO YOU NOT LIKE PUZZLES. BUT THE WAY YOU SHAMBLE ABOUT FROM PLACE TO PLACE… THE WAY YOUR HANDS ARE ALWAYS COVERED IN DUSTY POWDER. IT FEELS…"  
He trailed off, trying to think of how to phrase his thoughts on the spot.  
"LIKE YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH."  
Not the most poetic way to put it, but it would do.  
"HOWEVER! I, PAPYRUS, SEE GREAT POTENTIAL WITHIN YOU!"  
He didn't, but that was beside the point.   
"EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY TRY! AND ME, I HARDLY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL!!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!"  
He didn't really think he was a great person either, but if he said that out loud it would undermine his point!  
The human was approaching him again.  
"HEY, QUIT MOVING! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!"  
He was more irritated than anything. He was just trying to help them, and they couldn't even stop being awful for long enough to listen!   
"HUMAN! I THINK YOU ARE IN NEED OF GUIDANCE! SOMEONE NEEDS TO KEEP YOU ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW!"  
...That sounded too similar to when Sans tried to do things because thats what was "best for him". He didn't like it.  
"BUT WORRY NOT! I, PAPYRUS… WILL GLADLY BE YOUR FRIEND AND TUTOR! I WILL TURN YOUR LIFE RIGHT AROUND!!!"  
That only sounded a little better, but he didn't have time to think about it, because the human was walking towards him again.  
"I SEE YOU ARE APPROACHING. ARE YOU OFFERING A HUG OF ACCEPTANCE?"  
He knew they weren't. But he needed to stay in character, or they would become suspicious!  
"WOWIE!! MY LESSONS ARE ALREADY WORKING!! I, PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!"

The battle began.  
Papyrus spared them immediately, as a show of good faith.  
He barely even felt it when they attacked him, knocking his head clean off his body.  
"W-WELL, THAT'S NOT WHAT I EXPECTED..."  
It was exactly what he expected.   
He heard his body dissolve into dust more than he felt it.  
"BUT... ST... STILL! I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER! EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK SO! I... I PROMISE..."  
He was dying.  
He hoped Sans found someone better than him.  
He let that thought keep him calm as he died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk how to write endings.   
> but yeah. that's it. bit of a downer, isn't it?
> 
> as always, follow me on tumblr at: theradicalace.tumblr.com for 99% not writing, 1% writing.


End file.
